smith



2 Sheets-Sh t' 1. J. SMITH.

. Dye and Bleach Vat.

No. 236,268. Patented Jan, 4,1881.

N. FhTERS, PHOTO-LITHQGRAFHER. WASHINGTON D\C4 (N0 Medal.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet -2'.

J. SMITH.

Dye and Bl each Vat. N Pat ented Jan. 4, 1881.-

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N. PETERS FHOTO-LITHGGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D. C

UNITED STATES JAMES SMITH, 0F THORNLIEBANK, COUNTY OF RENFBEW, NORTH-BRITAIN.

PATENT @rrica.

DYE AND BLEACH VAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,268, dated January 4, 1881. r Application filed September 6, 1880. (No model.) Patented in England August 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. JAMES SMITH, engineer to Messrs. Walter Oruin & 00., of Thornliebank, in the county of Benfrew, North Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Washing and otherwise Treating Woven Fabrics with Liquids, (for which I have obtained apatent in Great Britain, No. 3,440, hearing date August 26, 1879;) and I hereby declare the following to be a clear description thereof, reference being had to the annexed two sheets of drawings, forming part of this specification.

My said invention has for its object the arranging, combining, and applying of apparatus in an improved manner for washing and otherwise treating woven fabrics with liquids.

One modification of my improved apparatus has been specially designed for the series of processes which, forming part of those employed in calico-printing, comprise the dunging or treatment withdung substitute, (sometimes also termed chemiking,) with the washing which follows it, and the soaping, followed by a second washing. My apparatus may, however, be modified and adapted for other series of processes-as, for example, for bleaching processes and for dyeing processes.

In the modification adapted for the calicoprinting processes hereiubefore referred to my apparatus is contained in and in connection with a long tank, which is, however, much shorter and generally more convenient than the tanks of apparatus hitherto used for the same purpose, it being an important feature of my present invention that the several operations are rendered so effective as to admit of the apparatus being made comparatively short and compact. The tank is divided into compartments by transverse vertical partitions, and there are two rows of transverse rollers or equivalents, one row being along the top of the tank and the other row along underneath, at a short distance above the bottom of the tank, and the fabric is led alternately round an upper and a lower roller, so as to form a series of vertical or nearly vertical portions, alternately descending and ascending throu gh theliquidsintheseveralcompartments. Steam is admitted into some of the compartments by perforatedpipes placed across the bottoms, and

a number of rotating three-sided or square or other prismatic heaters are arranged between the vertical lines of the fa ic. In the washing-compartments strong j ts of water are made to play on the fabric from transverse perforated pipes, the water having a considerable head or pressure. In the soaping compartment or compartments the liquor is drawn from the bottom, and by a pump forced into a series of transverseperforated pipes, whereby it is made to circulate, and at the same time is projected with considerable force against the fabric, whereby the operation is rendered very efficient and expeditious.

And in order that my said invention and the manner of performing the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings, to be hereinafter referred to, and representing one form of my improved'apparatus as adapted for dunging or chemiking and soaping printed calicoes.

In these drawings the same referencedetters and numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.

Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 of the accompanying drawings are a plan and a longitudinal vertical section, the fabric being shown by a thick black line in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 on Sheet 2 is a transverse vertical section asv taken through the first soaping-compartment. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same compartment, and Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the machine.

A simple steam-engine is shown as placed in connection with the machine, and on the crank-shaft 6 of this engine there is a bevelwheel, 7, which gears with a bevel-pinion, 8, on an upper longitudinal shaft, 9, carried along one side of the tank in brackets, which are not shown in Fig. 1. By means of spurwheels 10 the upper shaft, 9,drives alower longitudinal shaft, 11. The tank, which is of a long rectangular form, is built up of cast-iron plates, and is provided with two rows of transverse rollers or equivalents, round which the fabric is led, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to pass and these rollers 12 are driven by means of bevel-wheels from the upper longitudinal shaft,9. Others, 13,oftheupperrollers, which are over partitions, are also driven from the upper shaft, 9; and these rollers 13 have rollers 14 above them to rest or press on the fabric in order to squeeze out the surplus liquid the fabric carries up. The other upper rollers, 15, and all the lower rollers, 16, are undriven, and merely turn with the fabric. The lower longitudinal shaft, 11, drives a number of rotating heaters, 17, which are represented as square, but which may be of any other suitable prismatic form. These heaters 17 are arranged in sets of three, geared together by spur-wheels, the middle one of each set being driven by bevel-wheels from the shaft 11, so that the middle one of each set rotates oppositely to the other two.

In the first compartment, A, of the tank the liquid supplied contains the dung substitute or other chemical agent with which the fabric requires to be treated before being soaped. Steam is admitted into this compartment by a perforated pipe, 18, placed across the bottom of it.

In the second compartment, B, the fabric is washed by the action of strong jets of water, aided bya number of the rotating heaters 17. The water-jets issue from horizontal pipes 19, placed across the upper part of the tank between the vertical lines of the fabric. The pipes 19 are supplied with water having a considerable head or pressure, and each pipe has a row of holes formed along the middle of each side, so that the jets issue horizontally.

In the third compartment, 0, the soapingliquor is applied, and is heated by perforated steam-pipes 20 at the bottom. A large pipe, 21, is led from the bottom of this compartment 0 to a pump, 22, which is represented as of the centrifugal kind and as driven by a belt, 23,from the lly-wheelof the steam-engine. From the pump the liquor passes, by a pipe, 24, to a horizontal pipe, 25, at one side of the tank, and thence by branch pipes 26 to horizontal pipes 27, placed across the upper part of the compartmentO. The last-named pipes 27 are perforated like the water-pipes 19, and the liquor issuing from them is forcibly projected against the fabric, its action being assisted by a number of the rotating heaters 17.

From the third compartment, 0, the fabric might proceed at once to aiinal-washing compartment. I however find it advantageous to interpose a supplementary soaping-compartment, D,in which the fabric is subjected to fresh soap-liquorheated by a perforated steampipe, 28. After passing through the fourth compartment, 1), the fabric is led through a fifth and final compartment, E, in which it is washed, as in the second compartment, B.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- The combination of the tank 0, the upper and lower series of rollers, the intermediate heaters 17, the pipes 21 and 24, the intermediate pump 22, and the spray-pipes 27, substantially as and for the purpose described.

J AMES SMITH.

Witnesses ANDREW NIVEN, WILLIAM BLACK. 

